Transport for London has launched an investigation into a complaint made by a gay couple claiming they were thrown off a bus and berated by the homophobic driver for sharing a kiss.
Jack James, 23, and his partner were on board the number 89 bus when the incident occurred back in August, the London Evening Standard reports.
Mr James, an events coordinator who lives in Greenwich said: “We were chatting away when my partner gave me a peck on the lips.
“The bus driver shouted ‘Oi you two don't do that on my f****** bus or you can get off, I don't want to watch that.”
He said that initially they thought the driver could not be speaking to them.
He added: “When the bus stopped at our stop I walked up to the driver and politely asked the driver if he was talking to us.
“His reply was ‘Yes, it's my bus it is my rules and I don't want to watch that, it's disgusting, get off the bus'.
“Once we got off the bus we were fuming and I was shaking. The bus stopped again and he shouted and told us we were not real men and we should f*** off.”
Said TfL's Head of Bus Operations Ken Davidson:
All customers have the right to use our services without fear of being abused and offensive behaviour is completely unacceptable. We would like to reassure Mr James that this matter is being taken very seriously and that a thorough investigation is being conducted by Go Ahead.
The news comes less than a week after hundreds of protesters flooded a Sainsbury's supermarket in Brighton, UK for a "big consensual kiss-in" to protest the treatment of a lesbian couple told to by a security guard to stop their "disgusting" kissing.
